Obsession
by XxLauraX
Summary: Miss Linnie can't help sketching whenever she happens to spot anything that takes her fancy. Like Miss Peters. But sometimes, it can turn into an obsession. Femmslash, don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own anything!**

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It was a bright, sunny day at Malory Towers. The skies were of the bluest shade Miss Eliza Linnie had ever seen, without a cloud in sight. A perfect day to sketch and paint. The girls were all very pleased to be working outdoors for once; Eliza had decided it would be a true shame to stay inside the stone walls on a beautiful day like this, when so many beautiful, inspiring things were outside, just waiting to be painted. She looked around at her students as they worked. Belinda seemed to be lost in her own artistic heaven, her face concentrated and radiant with happiness. Eliza smiled. That girl would be a first class artist one of these days; it was truly quite rare to see someone with such a natural gift and love for painting. Irene, on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in the sounds the birds were making, and was tapping her drawing-pad with her pencil, humming a little tune under her breath. Eliza laughed softly, shaking her head. At the end of every class, when she asked each of the girls to hand in their work, Irene would always look sheepishly at her and utter apologies for not having drawn anything.

"I'm sorry, Miss Linnie, I truly am. I had this tune in my head, and I just forgot where I was!" she would say. Eliza would just sigh and smile exasperatedly, shaking her head, with a sparkle in her eye. She wouldn't scold her, for she knew very well the feeling of getting lost in inspiration, and forgetting about everything but your art. After all, Irene couldn't help tapping and humming absent mindedly whenever a tune came to her head, any more than Miss Linnie could help reaching absent mindedly to her sketchbook whenever she saw something that took her fancy.

Like Jane Peters.

She reached for her sketchbook, as she saw Jane taking her horse out of the stable, and began to draw. She drew her short, dark brown hair as it moved slightly with the warm breeze. She drew her long, solid legs as they straddled the back of the horse. She drew her strong, rough hands as they held on to the reigns…  
"I say, how can you possibly draw so fast, Miss?" said a voice next to her, snapping her out of her daze. She turned to face Daphne, who was looking at the sketch in admiration. "It looks exactly like Miss Peters! How do you manage to make your sketches look so real?"  
Eliza flushed a deep red. If only Daphne knew how many times she had drawn this particular person, memorizing each expression on her face, every color in her eye…  
Of course, she did not tell the girl that. She merely smiled at her and proceeded to show her the way she had done it.  
Half an hour later, the bell rung, and it was time for lunch. The girls handed in their work (except for Irene, of course, who, as usual, came up to Miss Linnie and started apologizing immediately) and then went off to eat.

Eliza went into the dining hall and took her usual seat at the staff table, next to Mam'zelle Dupont. She and the French mistress had become very close over the years. Mam'zelle was very fond of her, for Eliza reminded her very much of her youngest sister, Pauline, and she often complained that Eliza was the only person in this English school that understood her "artistic French temperament".

"Ah, Eliza, moi petite, how are you today?" asked Mam'zelle, smiling at the red-haired woman.

"Fine. Starving! It seemed as though the morning classes would never end."

"Ah, and no wonder, with the tiny breakfast you had! It is not good, how little you eat for breakfast. Only one egg! You get skinny!"

Eliza smiled. Mam'zelle was the biggest eater of the entire staff table. Eliza always had to smother a laugh at Miss Potts disapproving face each time she saw Mam'zelle filling up her plate with an alarmingly large amount of food. Eliza herself was not a big eater, and Mam'zelle was forever nagging at her to eat more, claiming that if she got any skinnier, her bones would pierce through her skin.

"Look at you!" Mam'zelle went on. "All bones, no meat! It eez no wonder you…ah, there comes Jane!"

A grinning Miss Peters walked up to the table and took a seat on the other side of Mam'zelle.

"You are as bad as one of the girls, Jane, coming late to lunch! I will make you write out lines if you aren't careful! What is your excuse for this tardiness?" joked Mam'zelle. Jane laughed, rolling her eyes.

"I have none, I'm afraid, so you're just going to have to punish me! I was out riding and I lost track of the time" she replied, in that deep, husky voice that always made Eliza feel weak in the knees.

"Tiens! What a dreadful sport! I will never understand it, this love for riding on these big monstrous creatures! It is not good" said Mam'zelle, with her signature exaggerated facial expressions.

"Maybe you should try it sometime, Mam'zelle. I'm sure you would love it." Said Jane, with a glint in her eye.

"Ah, Jane, do not tease me so! It is not kind to poor Mam'zelle! You and that girl Bill, you both always tease poor Mam'zelle."

"As if _I_ would ever tease you, Mam'zelle! I really do think you'd love it once you gave it a try. Don't you agree, Eliza? Just picture Mam'zelle, galloping across the grounds…" said Jane teasingly, winking slyly to the art mistress. Eliza laughed.

"Oh, certainly. Wouldn't you like to try it, Mam'zelle? Jane here is so willing to teach you, it would be rather rude to say no" she replied teasingly.

"Ah, you betray me! You choose to side with the horse-lady! I would never have thought it of you, you traitor!" joked Mam'zelle, pretending to be hurt. "Do not tell me you enjoy this monstrous sport too, Eliza? I shall be very disappointed in you if you say yes!"

"I do, although I haven't ridden in a while. Back home we used to ride all the time, me and my siblings. I always preferred watching them ride and sketching them, though" replied Eliza, smiling.  
"I hope you're not too disappointed in me, Mam'zelle."

"Ah, but I am! How can you like it, with all that galloping and truttering!"

"I think you mean trotting, Mam'zelle" said Jane, helping herself to some potatoes. "Anyhow, _I'm_ certainly not disappointed. You should come and ride with me sometime, Eliza. It would be nice having a companion."

She looked up at the art mistress and gave her a warm smile. Oh, how she loved that smile. She had drawn it so many times, with every single detail: the crinkle of her eyes, the slight scrunch of her nose, the perfectly white teeth. She felt the familiar blush creeping up her cheeks and smiled and nodded before quickly bending her head over the plate, so that the other woman wouldn't see it, cursing herself inwardly for behaving like some stupid love-struck schoolgirl.

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**A/N: What do you think so far? Love it? Hate it? Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I am very very silly and didn't realize that Linnie was a surname. Thanks to exilencfc for pointing that out! :) I've decided to name her Eliza for no good reason xD **

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Eliza opened her eyes and stretched, sitting up on the bed. She reached a hand to her head and groaned as she felt the messy tangles of her red curly hair. She fell back lazily into the bed, smiling in a rather guilty manner. Malory Towers had always been the sort of place that didn't stand for any nonsense, and laziness of any kind was considered quite a sin, but somehow Eliza had never gotten rid of this particular fault of hers. Glancing at the window, she saw the sun was shining brightly. She smiled and finally got out of bed, deciding to go for a morning walk. Years of trying to make her hair look slightly presentable later, she got dressed quickly and made her way downstairs.

She opened the door and stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air. The view of the outdoors was truly beautiful, and she was seriously considering going back to get her sketchbook when she heard a voice behind her.

"You're up early today, Eliza."

Eliza spun around and almost fell over as she came face to face with the hearty, mannish looking mistress. _And _she was smiling that irresistible smile again.

_Oh, God_.

"You're usually not out of bed till ten o'clock on Saturday mornings. Miss Potts has always found that rather shocking, you know" she went on, a teasing tone in her voice. Eliza rolled her eyes, laughing. It had become rather a joke amongst the staff the way Miss Potts always pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows disapprovingly when she saw Eliza rushing to the dining hall, looking guilty and rather sheepish.

"Well, I was going to have a few more minutes snooze, but I decided the day was too nice to miss out on" she replied, pulling at a strand of her red hair as she always did whenever she was nervous. She seemed to do that all the time whenever Jane was around. Eliza by nature was a rather shy person, but the other teacher always made her feel even more self-conscious. She felt the familiar blush creeping up her cheeks and looked down. Jane noticed this and laughed slightly.

"What's down there?" she asked, smirking. Eliza looked up, a look of slight confusion on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Down there. What are you looking at?"

Eliza's face turned an even deeper shade of red and she cleared her throat, racking her brains for something to say.

"Just, er…grass. Very, um, green. Nice to paint. And flowers, also" stuttered Eliza, wincing to herself.

_Great, Eliza, great. Nothing is more attractive than your stupid clumsiness, _thought Eliza angrily. Jane chuckled softly and spoke again.

"Well, I'm going riding. Want to join me? We could ride over to where the hills are. Plenty of green grass over there for you to paint. Flowers, also" said Jane, and she winked as she held out her arm. Eliza laughed and took the other woman's outstretched arm, her face nearly matching the color of her hair by now.

They walked up to the school stables, where Jane's dark, big horse was waiting, with an expectant and rather impatient look on his face. Eliza laughed and reached out to stroke his black mane.

"It's almost as if he was expecting you" she said, reaching into her pocket for a peppermint to give him.

"Oh, he was. He always knows when I'm coming. He hates waiting though, he's very impatient. Hang on, I'll just get him and one of the school horses saddled up" she replied, walking over to where the saddles were.

"He's beautiful" murmured Eliza, stroking the black horse softly while he gobbled up the peppermint. Suddenly, he lowered his head and gently nuzzled her neck. Jane saw this and laughed.

"He likes you! He doesn't usually do that to anyone except for me. I'm quite jealous."

They saddled up the horses and began to ride, rather slowly at first, for Eliza hadn't ridden in quite a long time. She said so to the other woman, as an explanation for her unsteadiness.

"How come you stopped riding?" asked Jane, riding alongside her. Eliza hesitated.

"Well…to make a long story short, my stepfather didn't exactly approve of women riding horses. Thought it was unladylike. He didn't approve of many things, come to think of it. And after that…well, I guess I just got out of the habit" she replied, trying to sound casual, but surprised at the tone of bitterness in her voice, which wouldn't really be very bitter for anyone else; but Jane, who was used to hearing the mistress speak in a gentle, soft voice, noticed it at once, and glanced at her.

"Well, I'll make sure you get back into the habit now" replied Jane lightly, smiling warmly at the other woman. Eliza smiled back and they rode on.

They were putting the horses back into the stables when Jane turned to the smaller woman and smiled _that _smile again at her. "We should do this again soon. I enjoy having some company while riding, and it doesn't seem like Mam'zelle is up to it anytime soon".

Eliza giggled and nodded enthusiastically, and then kicked herself mentally for seeming a little overenthusiastic. She cleared her throat, racking her brains for something cool and casual to say. "Yes. I'd like that." _Cool and casual, cool and casual_. "I'll have to check my schedule". _What? Noooo. Stupid, stupid, stupid! _

"Your schedule?" Jane replied questioningly, raising her eyebrows and smirking slightly.

"Er…yes. For…painting…you know…" she trailed off, feeling extremely mortified.

"…grass? And…flowers, also?" suggested Jane, a teasing glint in her eyes. Eliza blushed, feeling like a complete and utter dunce. Seeing her embarrassment, Jane laughed loudly, and patted her shoulder. "You are one strange person, Miss Linnie." And with that, she walked away, leaving a blushing and embarrassed Eliza staring after her. The art mistress groaned and covered her face with her hands. Curse Jane Peters and her charming mannish ways. Curse Jane Peters and her warm, beautiful smile. Curse Jane Peters and her amazing ability to turn Eliza into a love-struck, idiotic featherhead. And curse her own self for falling in love with her.

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**A/N: I hope you liked it! Please review! Next chapter should be the last one, and hopefully longer :)  
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	3. Chapter 3

Eliza tried to convince herself that she was not avoiding Jane. Why should she? After all, she was a mature, responsible woman. She had merely gone off to the most desolate place in the school because she had wanted to paint alone on Sunday, and had simply overslept even more than often on Monday morning (much to Miss Potts horror). Even when Jane walked past her and Eliza quickened her step, it was only because she wanted to get early to the classroom. Of course she wasn't avoiding her.

However, Jane must have gotten the wrong idea.

It was Tuesday afternoon when Eliza went into the staffroom, carrying her painting folder, just to find that the hearty mistress was the only person there, filling a kettle with water. She looked up and smiled at Eliza, who returned the smile with rather scared looking eyes.

"Well, hello, stranger" Jane grinned, closing the water tap. "I'm just making tea, would you like some? It won't be great, I'm afraid, making tea has never been my strong point."

"Um, actually, I've just remembered, I…"

"Do stay. I feel like you've been avoiding me ever since last Saturday. I know I'm not the most entertaining person to be around, but I'm rather hurt at your reluctance to be in the same room as me" Jane interrupted, grimly. Eliza's eyes widened.

"I wasn't avoiding…! I don't…I didn't mean to…!" she stuttered, half apologetically, half indignantly, feeling mortified, then trailing off at the sight of the other woman's teasing eyes. Suddenly, Jane threw her head back and laughed her deep, loud, hearty laugh.

"Your face! Oh, Eliza, you'll be the death of me. I was just joking, old thing, no need to get all hot and bothered" she snorted, wiping away tears of laughter. "But do stay and have some tea, else I'll be bored to bits for the next hour. Mam'zelle Rougier's gone off to give some extra coaching to someone, Miss Parker is correcting exam papers and everyone else is teaching. Do you take sugar with your tea?"

"Two spoonfuls" replied Eliza, sitting down at the small staffroom table, embarrassed for being such a stuttering idiot. "Where's Miss Potts? I thought she usually has a free period at this time on Tuesdays too."

"Correcting some prep from the first form, I think, luckily for you" replied Jane.

"She doesn't really approve of me at all, does she?" laughed Eliza, sipping her tea.

Jane laughed, shaking her head. "I don't think it's you that's the problem. I think it's more to do with the fact you're kind of, well…"

"What?"

"I don't know, exactly…nothing bad, don't look at me like that! Just kind of…lost."

"…lost?"

"Well, you have that kind of artsy, lost air about you…like your head is always up in the clouds. It's not just you" she added hastily, seeing Eliza's indignant look "Mr Young's like that too. And so is Mam'zelle, with her famous 'artistic temperament'. And you know Miss Potts; she's all about being sensible and realistic…stiff upper lip and all that. She doesn't understand people like you, who are daydreamers and oversleep" she finished teasingly. "I thought she was going to positively murder you when you arrived twenty minutes late for breakfast yesterday".

"I thought so too" laughed Eliza. "She's a good sort, though, if a bit cynical."

"Well, Mr Young certainly approved of you when you first came here" teased Jane. Eliza laughed in embarrassment, remembering how the man had been all over her in the first term of her teaching there. He had been quite heartbroken when she rejected him, but he had gotten over it with time, and he and Eliza had become friends. "Did he really ask you to marry him?"

Eliza nodded, smiling sheepishly. "He did. My parents would have been pleased. It would have given them something to approve of, at least" the words were out before she could stop them. She hadn't talked about her parents in a long time. There was just something about Jane Peters that made it easy to talk to her. Jane nodded.

"Ah. Not on very good terms with them, then?" she asked knowingly, reaching for a biscuit.

"You could say that. They don't approve of me. You know, studying art, and then working. They always wanted me to just get married and be a housewife. I haven't spoken to them in years."

Jane nodded. "I can relate to that. I'm not exactly the dream daughter my parents wanted either."

"They didn't approve of you getting a job either?"

"It wasn't so much about me working, really, it was…a different reason" she replied, looking at the smaller mistress directly in the eyes. Before Eliza could ask what, the door swung open and a fuming Mam'zelle Dupont walked in, her eyes blazing.

"Ah, that Alicia, she is bad, bad, BAD! All these English girls are bad, bad, BAD! They say to me, it was just a treek, Mam'zelle, do not be cross! Do not be cross, they say! They put beetles in my coffee mug! Ah, how I hate those tiny monsters that crawl! A hundred of them, this big!" she exclaimed dramatically, holding her hands apart to the size of a small dog. As she wittered on angrily about the "crawling monsters" and the "bad English girls", Eliza caught Jane's eye and started giggling uncontrollably. Soon, they were both laughing shamelessly, holding their sides. Mam'zelle stared indignantly at them for five minutes before bursting out laughing herself, suddenly seeing the funny side of the whole situation.

A few minutes later, a most surprised Miss Potts and Mam'zelle Rougier walked in, and were most surprised and shocked at the sight of the three mistresses laughing uncontrollably, tears of laughter rolling down their cheeks. They both left, feeling quite bemused. Well! Whatever next!

After the laughing had subsided, Mam'zelle had gone off to write a letter, leaving Eliza and Jane alone once more. Eliza sighed and leaned back against her chair, giggling softly. Jane shook her head, grinning.

"Well, I think we just got Miss Potts and Mam'zelle Rougier to disapprove of us even more" she laughed. "How about going for a walk now? I feel like stretching my legs a bit."  
Eliza nodded and got up from the chair, stretching.

"I'll just leave my folder in my room and I'll be right back" she said, grabbing the folder and walking towards the door. "Shall we meet, say, in the –"

But where Eliza wanted to meet Jane would never know, for at that moment the art mistress's foot got tangled in the foot of a chair and she fell flat on her face. The folder she was holding flew out of her hands and the papers – which were, unfortunately, paintings and sketches of Jane - scattered messily all over the floor.

Eliza picked herself up from the floor and began to frantically collect all the sketches. She looked up and saw, with a sinking heart, that Jane had gotten up to assist her and was now picking up a few dozen sketches and staring at them disbelievingly. She looked up at Eliza, frowning in puzzlement. Eliza stood there for a few minutes, frozen in shock, and then hurriedly picked up the remaining sketches on the floor surprised at finding sudden tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" she choked out, snatching the papers out of the other woman's hand. Jane stared at Eliza, realization suddenly dawning on her face. "Eliza…" she began, but the art mistress was already running towards her room. She ran and ran, tears pouring down her face. Well, that was that. Jane knew her secret, and Eliza would probably be fired. After all, what school would keep a teacher like _that_? And even if she wasn't fired, how could she ever face her again? She probably thought she was a disgusting, obsessed, sick stalker. She ran into her room and sat on the bed, covering her face as she let out a sob.

She had done it now.

A few seconds later, she felt footsteps approaching. Eliza jumped and uncovered her face. Jane was at the door. She stood up quickly. There was a few minutes silence, and Jane cleared her throat.

"Eliza…"

"I'm so sorry. Please don't tell Miss Grayling. Please." She interrupted, her voice small and tearful.

"Eliza…"

"It won't happen again. I'm sorry. You don't have to speak to me again. You don't have to even acknowledge my existence. But please don't tell anyone" she went on, tears spilling down her face. "I've got nowhere else to go."

"Eliza…"

"I won't sketch you anymore, I promise, I'll just…"

Her speech was cut off by Jane's lips, pressed to her own. Eliza's knees buckled and she would have fallen to the ground if the other woman's arms hadn't been tightly wrapped around her waist. Eliza shivered and brought her hands up to the taller woman's head, running her fingers through her short black hair, deepening the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Jane cupped Eliza's small face and wiped away the tears with her thumbs, pressing their foreheads together.

"You stupid woman. You really thought I would get you fired? For what, being adorable? You had me at 'flowers, also'" she murmured, chuckling gently as she stroked Eliza's pale cheek. The art mistress blushed and smiled, feeling ecstatic with joy.

"I didn't know you also…well…"

"Liked woman more than men?" finished Jane, snorting softly as she nuzzled the smaller woman's neck. "What did you think I meant when I said my parents didn't approve of me for a different reason?"

Jane reached down and began gently nibbling her earlobe. Eliza moaned softly and before she knew it, they were on the bed, and Jane was on top of her, kissing her, touching her, making love to her, and it was heaven. At last they came, panting, and they snuggled up to each other, tangled, breathless, exhausted and happier than they had ever been before.

"I think we've just given another reason for people to disapprove of us" said Eliza.

"A beautiful reason", Jane smiled. She kissed Eliza's forehead tenderly and then they fell asleep, warm and at peace in each other's loving embrace.

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**A/N: And that's it! Hope you liked it! I know the ending was very soppy and mushy and fluffy, but oh, well. Please review! :)**


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